The Joker's Story
by MavisK
Summary: What happens when a innocent boy becomes a madman? Find out in this hair-raising one-shot based off of The Dark Knight. Rated M for trigger warnings. (Murder, drinking, etc.)


A little boy known by the name of Andrew was a quiet and normal child. He would wake up every morning and write down poems in his notebook. He liked to eat pasta and bread and always ate his veggies, even when they tasted awful. His father wasn't the perfect man but Andrew learned at a young age not to question his elders. His mother was a sweet and caring woman, who always held him close when he was feeling upset.

On Andrew's seventh birthday, he received a card with ten dollars in it from his mother. They were a little poor, so this was a good sum of money. Andrew barely knew what to do with it. His mother suggested he go to the drug store and get some candy. Andrew agreed.

He headed out of the house, holding his ten dollars with pride. He had never held so much before and he couldn't believe he could buy anything. But he didn't expect other people to care. A man in a hooded black sweatshirt grabbed the money, Andrew's small hands unable to hold on for long. Someone else kicked the little boy to the ground, slamming a boot into his nose and leaving him lying on the gravelly sidewalk, blood streaming from his nostrils.

0o0

Time passed. A month after Andrew's tenth birthday, he learned more about his father. The bottles in the kitchen, the fights, and the smell of alcohol, always being blamed on the neighbor above their flat. But Andrew was smart. He knew his father was a drinker and he knew he was done with the "respect your elder's" act. So he confronted him. He begged him to stop. He told him he knew a girl's mother who died from alcohol poisoning.

His father left the house, carrying a tote bag of clothing.

0o0

Andrew was able to deal with the loss of his father but his mother was not so lucky. She sobbed for days, never leaving her bedroom and wondering how she could have let the drinking get so out of hand. Andrew told himself it wasn't his fault but deep down he knew.

0o0

That was until his father came back. Out of habit, Andrew guessed, the grimy man with a tattered shirt and a choppy haircut stumbled in. A bottle of whiskey in one hand and a cork in the other.

"Hey Andy," he slurred, touching his son's shoulder. Andrew, twelve years old now, jumped back in fear. Then his mother came in, speaking calmly to the father.

"Ron, put down the bottle," she said softly. Oh and her voice was soft. It soothed Andrew and made him forget that his life was a mess. The next few minutes were a blur. His mother, grabbing the knife. The father, taking it and stabbing her. Over and over. Every drop of blood made Andrew cringe in terror, trying desperately to get to her. The father simply hit him in the head with the bottle and Andrew felt himself fall to the ground, forehead throbbing.

"Why so serious?" screamed his father, his voice raspy and his foul breath blowing out like steam. Andrew started to cry, backing farther and farther away until his back hit the wall.

"_Why so serious?"_ hissed his father, flicking the mother's blood off the knife. _"Let's put a smile on that face." _With a wicked laugh, he grabbed his son's chin and two quick painful cuts later, Andrew's mouth bled faster than his tears, his hands grasping for anything before he blacked out.

0o0

After the incident, no one called him Andrew. Some called him Scar Face, or just "The Alley Boy" since he made his new home in an abandoned alley. He was the famous homeless boy, who wouldn't go to any orphanage and lived in Gotham as the most unlucky person in the world. But that wasn't all.

Every day he became angrier and angrier. The tears turned to pain and the blood turned to scars. He started visiting bars, and like his father, losing his mind. People became bodies. A homeless boy became a man. He couldn't understand how people could be so cruel but he knew, it was the perfect way to make money. He tried robbing banks. He murdered and he stole; he even found humor in it all. But the madness set it and killing became even more fun. He created a mask for himself. He killed anyone who knew his real name. He deleted all the documents about his parents.

He went certifiably insane.

0o0

The Joker became a beacon of terror. A boy who by only one incident, was turned into a killing machine with half a brain of crazy and the other half of anger. He never married. He never even took the time to get to know a real person.

Plans became chaos and The Joker became Death.


End file.
